Curtain-holding device



No. s| 1;a2|.

v a.- H. DAVIS.

CURTAIN HOLDING DEVICE.

(Application filed Oct. 1, 1898.)

(N0 Ila-dam Patented Jan. l0, I899.

showing it out of level.

,, l'iE TATES i ATENT '7' a stem H. DAVIS, on PORTLAND, MAIN-E.

contain-Hemme- DEVI/CE.

srnoxrioarr'xon slan part of Letters Patent naeizs'a 1, dated. January 10, 1 I i Application filed October 1,1898.

To all whom it mag concern.-

' Be it known that I, GEORGE ll. Davis, a

' and useful-Improvements in Gurtain-I-Ioldin g Devices, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to that wellknown class of curtain-holding devices in which a f riction-shoe isattached to the curtain-stick and pressed outward against the window-casing, thus holding the curtain against the up-- ward. pull of spring-roller fixture. The cur-- tains are used extensively in street and railway cars and are generally provided with handles for retracting the friction-shoes; but the publicin using them frequently disregard the handles-and pull the curtains down or push them up, seizing the curtain-stick in-' differently at the ends or in the middle. As a result of this use of the curtain there has been difiiculty in keeping thefriction-shoes in the vertical grooves of the casing where the curtain-stick was tilted out of a horizontal position; and any-invention has for. its 0bject the correction of this error aud'the further object of producing a structure which will enable the curtain-stick to right itself or resume a horizontal position when it hasbeen tilted in raising or lowering the curtain.

I illustrate my invention by means of ,the. accompanying drawings, in whiclh- Figure l. is a front elevation of the lower portion of a curtain with iny'holding device applied thereto,-a portion being in section. Fig. 2 is a front elevation of the fixture alone, Fig. 3 is' a section on the line .11 a; of Fig. 2,,and Fig. 4: is a View of a modification.

A represents the lower end of the shade or curtain, the upper end of which is supposed to be provided with a spring-roller tending to exerta-continuons upward pull.

33 represents the casing of the window or other opening, and particularly, the groove in the same, in which the triction shoe D runs. 'Ihe'friction-shoe as I usually'constrnct it is secured to the outer end of the spindle h, which is mounted in the hollow curtain-stick,'

one spindle being provided for each end of Serial No. 692,415. (No model.)

oppose each other. The spindle, with its triotion-shoe, is forced optward against the easing to produce the necessary friction by meansof the spiral spring z','and l show here handles g g for retracting the spindles, al-

though my device will work equally wellwithv out such handles. y i l My invention resides in the construction of the friction-shoes 'D, whiehare pivoted to the head f, formed on the outer end of the spindle. The shoe 1) is preferably in two parts or sections cl cZ--an upper and a lower 1 section-'pivoted by adjacent ends to the head f by pivot a.

stick by springs, which resist any tendency of either end to rotate inward about its pivot. In other words, when the curtain-stick is tilted so as to bring the shoe out of its normalrightangle position one end impinges 'advan tage besides that of self-righting-is that y when the curtain-stick tilts one end of the shoe always remains nearly flat in the bottom of the groove, and thus the fixture is dithcult to get out of its place.

For the purpose of holding the block in its normal right-angle position I make use of ward about their pivotswhen the stick is tilted.

When I make use of spring-actuated spin- The head is heldin a nor- 'mal position at right. angles to the curtaindies for holding the friction-shoes and for.

forcing them against the casing, as herein shown, the springs e are not usually designed to pressagainst the-sectioned when the latter are in their normal positions. 'It is only when the curtain-stick is raised or lowered the curtain-stick, sothat the friction-shoes by one end and moved from its horizontal springs exert a pressure.

The spring-actuated spindle may be dispensed with and the friction-shoe attached directly to theend of the curtain-stick. In this case the springs-e are adjusted to bear against the sections (1 whensthe latter are in their normal position for the purpose ot furnishing friction to resist the pull of the cur-.

tain. The advantage of using a spiral spring in conjunction with the flat spring is that the former has more motion and enables the fixture to conform to greater inequalities in the width of the casing than is the case where the 'flat spring; is alone depended on.

In Fig. 4 I show a modification in which the block is made in one piece instead of two. The springs c, as shown in this modification,

are placed so that one bears against each end "of the block and each spring is riveted to one side of the head -'lhe'function of these springs is practice ly the same as the springs shown in. the other figures of the drawings.

The device thus shown is capable of bcin successfully used without pinch-lmmlles. it is difficult to throw it out of its grooves, and it forms a 'scllrighiing'dcvice by which the curtain is always kept straight.

I, claim 1. In a curtain-holding dev1ce,thc combination of a curtain-stick, an outwardly-pressedfriction-shoe pivoted to the outer end'of saidcurtain-stick and a spring actin gagainst each end of said shoe tending'to resist the inward rotation of said end about the pivot-point.

2. Inacurtain-holdingdevice,thecombination of a curtain-stick, an outwardly-pressed friction-shoe, composed of an upper and a lower section pivoted at adjacent ends to the outer end of said curtain-stick and a spring acting on eachsection and tending to resist its in ward rotation abo' ut its pivot.

3. In a curtain-holding device the combination of a ciirtain-stiok, an outwardly-pressed friction'shoe composed of an npperahd a lower section pivoted at adjacent ends to the outer end of said curtain-stick and a flat spring secured centrally to the spindle and having its ends bearing outward agaiiist the two sections.

Signed by me, at Portland, Maine, this 29th day of September, 1898.

GEORGE ll'. DAVIS.

l'iiitnosses S. W. BATES, L. M; GonFREY. 

